⭐⭐⭐⭐ Holiday Inn Resort Phuket is an excellent hotel to get the best of many sides of Patong Beach: the direct beach access, shopping, dining and of course, the famous nightlife. And even though you are very close to the hectic life of Patong, the resort is surprisingly quiet.
Holiday
Inn Phuket is a success story since a very long time, and the team
makes sure it stays this way years after years. Overseas travellers
don’t usually associate the brand ‘Holiday Inn’ with luxury island
resorts, but here, they are in for a pleasant surprise.
But
it takes more than an excellent location to get it right in Phuket:
many resorts along the beach road are not as popular. So let us go
through what we liked.
The
location is strategical and unique. The hotel has three entrances: one
facing the beach (you need to cross the street to reach the beach) and
two are on the shopping streets. OTOP is a famous night bazaar just
behind Holiday Inn, and on the side are Hooters and Hard Rock Cafe.
There are two wings
to choose from: the ‘Main Wing’, quite traditional in design and the
‘Busakorn Wing’ more luxurious with a modern Thai feel to it.
You can enjoy five swimming pools:
Two huge main pools, plus two smaller for the guests of pool access
rooms, and another large one dedicated to kids! We always enjoyed the
vast square Busakorn pool and its lovely pool bar.
A great spa with a vast list of treatments, massages and facials.
A dedicated kids club, a bit out of the main areas, so other guests will not be disturbed, and kids get tons with activities.
Four excellent restaurants, one of them, ‘Sam
Steak House’, has made its name long ago for serving… well, great
steaks! (and an excellent Irish coffee, you should not underestimate if
you need to drive!). All restaurants have well-supplied wine cellars.
The breakfast is perfect, and if you are like us, it often defines how
the day starts!
Pool
access rooms are the best, tranquil and with a vast shared pool, not a
‘bathtub’. Most rooms are large and renovated regularly, nicely fitted
with more amenities than you need.
We
could go on and on, but one of the keys of Holiday Inn popularity is
the staff, genuinely caring. Many of them have been there for a very
long time. No surprise there seems to be so many returning guests.
Well,
it was hard to find something wrong with Holiday Inn Phuket. If you are
not a ‘Patong Beach‘ kind of person, you might find it a bit too
central, and the beach is rather busy in Patong. The fitness is also
relatively small for a resort of this size.
So if your choice is to be in the centre of everything, you can’t find better than the Holiday Inn.
076-370-200